Final Quest #20

Seems clear that Venka is choosing to go in the Palace. I hope she's told Teir she intends to saddle him with the tribe!

Also, new theory: Venka's child will be Annavhi, one of the briefly seen elves in "FutureQuest." It was in black and white but he looked like a Sun Villager, acted like Rayek and swore like a Wolfrider.

Miss Gillespie wrote:

"henceforth, you shall wear this loincloth of mine, and my grudge with it!"

I've wondered about the age, too. But honestly ... I've completely lost track of time in FQ. And I'm not inclined enough to pin down a timeline (especially as the creators seem not interested in fans caring for time continuity at all).
Miss Gillespie's witty post can easily become my head canon if necessary.

manga wrote:

Also, new theory: Venka's child will be Annavhi, one of the briefly seen elves in "FutureQuest." It was in black and white but he looked like a Sun Villager, acted like Rayek and swore like a Wolfrider.

Good call, manga. There's even reminiscence of Grandma Kahvi in Anahvi's name.

Leetah having a third chief's cub makes me think more of M'Ren than Jink ... in case I want to speculate about connections with Futurequest.
And it puts Ember rather than Leetah on a possible death list for me.

Venka going to leave with the Palace ... Blaah.
I've loved the scene between Two-Edge and Ahdri!
Judging from THIS issue Rayek/Windkin would make a much more plausible same-sex couple for me. Even better developed in this one issue than Dart/Mender in the whole arc.


So far we have THREE... make it FOUR possible FQ babies.
Venka's and Leetah's cubs are confirmed - they should be born during FQ ... or in a postlude.
Then there's the postponed conception of Ember's cub ... who might be or might not be.
Last not least Jink ... who I still suspect to be Skywise's and Timmain's offspring.

... til FQ proves me wrong ^^

Another prediction!

In the next issue, or at least sometime before the end of FQ, Skywise and Timmain will come to visit the Holt. Skywise and Leetah will great each other with huge grins and say together "Guess what! We're expecting!" Timmain and Cutter will stand by with smug, enigmatic expressions while the others go through the "Wait, you're expecting? But we're expecting!" routine.

manga wrote:

Another prediction!

In the next issue, or at least sometime before the end of FQ, Skywise and Timmain will come to visit the Holt. Skywise and Leetah will great each other with huge grins and say together "Guess what! We're expecting!" Timmain and Cutter will stand by with smug, enigmatic expressions while the others go through the "Wait, you're expecting? But [b]we're[/] expecting!" routine.

I love that Routine!

Honestly, this was a lot better in the art department then I thought it was going to be and coloring was definitely better then expected (after starring at that cover for a while...)

I think I am the most excited for the new cub, that wasn't what I was expecting, although it was what I was hoping for. It was handled in a way I didn't care for and just felt extremely rushed. I didn't even realize it was true recognition until Leetah confirmed by saying something about the cub. I'm used to that moment where its just their eyes and theirs that Ah moment.

I have always thought that Jink was going to be cutters cub because of certain scene in one of the future quest/jink comics that I am too tired to look for right now. I will have to do a dedicated reread very soon.

As for the rest of it, it was ok. I still a bit detached from the story and the Mender scene with the trolls were kind of weird and left me with a bad taste, although the Mender troll had me dying of laughter.

embala wrote:

manga wrote:

Also, new theory: Venka's child will be Annavhi, one of the briefly seen elves in "FutureQuest." It was in black and white but he looked like a Sun Villager, acted like Rayek and swore like a Wolfrider.

Good call, manga. There's even reminiscence of Grandma Kahvi in Anahvi's name.

Thanks for the spelling correction, Embala. I thought something was off.

I wonder if the "an" part has anything to do with Zhantee?

You know, in his dream he saw the High One coming out with his child. In context, it looks to have also been Leetah's but what if that was just dream stuff and what really happened is the High One helped Venka and they reached through time and got Venka in the family way through Mystical High Science? (Or she read "The Time Traveller's Wife" and just went back and had sex with him before he died.)

Okay, I did not see that coming! By "that" I mean Cutter's and Leetah's second Recognition. I literally stopped and just shouted "WHAT?"

As for Venka's choice, I got the impression she'd chosen to go all the way back in issue 9, and that only some of the Go-Backs have chosen to stay behind.

I really hope Jink isn't Cutter's offspring.

About the dance scene at the beginning: Only Pini Elves can all think of the same song at the same time well enough and long enough to dance to.

I'm kinda with Rayek. "Welp, this is dumb. Wanna go harass some bad guys?"

Rayek and Windkin made this one semi-enjoyable. Neither of them seem to give much of a damn about all the vague stuff the rest is up to. I don't even try to follow the over all story any more, and that makes things less painful. I hope the Funguys get burned right back into oblivion. They never had a story.

They're probably all lock sending a song and I guess rayak isn't included. Dang. Any guesses on what they might be dancing to?

this was somehow the first thing that popped up in my head.

it would certainly make for a great scene in a movie, having the elves dancing and hopping around without any sound... for a taste, just turn off the sound in some Disney movie during the obligatory song scene. The humans are just hopping around with them, like some kids, who try to imitate adults, even if they don't know what is going on


why did those Go Backs, who decided to stay, have also to decide to stay in the forest? Aren't they allowed to decide to go back to some snowy place?

If the palace decides to leave in, let's say, two days, will they pick up those elves, who want to leave the planet but haven't it made to the palace yet? What, if they just made the decision right in the moment when the palace flies off?

I don't understand what the big deal is about everyone having to choose to stay or go. It's not like if the palace leaves it can never, ever return.

The theme here, to me, seems to be both letting go and holding on.

* Strongbow is letting go of Moonshade so she can be happy; Moonshade will always love Strongbow, but she's letting go to move on and try something new.

*Venka is letting go of her responsibilities to go to the stars with the Sun Folk, Timmain, and a few Wavedancers;

*Cutter is letting go of what he can't control or understand, and his role as chief;

*Rayek is finally letting go of Leetah and what will never be.

As for holding on:

*Looks like most of the Go-Backs are holding on to the life they know on Abode;

*Ahdri wants to hold on to Two-Edge and make him happy;

*Leetah wants to hold on to her life on Abode, and Cutter;

And Skywise is still caught between holding on and letting go to move on.

Although Stargazer has a point about the Palace being able to come back and visit, maybe Abode is becoming too dangerous for that. Maybe this really will be a final goodbye.

I thought Rayek letting go of the guns was interesting. I honestly thought he would bring them to the elves so they could kill their enemies with their own weapons. But, no. He just dumps them in a lake!


I wonder if Cutter would have accepted and used these weapens had they been handed to him. My feeling says that with the new-agey way EQ is written now, he would not have. But then again- back in the day he was all too happy to use the armor and weapons provided by Two-Edge in the palace war. But things were different then.
What do you think would have happened if Rayek had decided to keep these guns, possibly with some bullets and powder as well?

Also did Mender just use his powers to transform a deformed and diseased troll in Trinket's ideal golden haired Mender look-alike just so he is rid of her unwanted attentions? Man that is creepy. Mender sure has interesting morals!

I agree that Cutter and most of the elves probably wouldn't have accepted the weapons, but to be honest I think Ember and Venka would be the most against using them. I just see each of there experiences being a huge deciding factor. The go backs would probably the most at ease with the idea, but Venka would convince them not to go with it.

I think Mender did use his powers to create a Mender troll for that exact purpose. While I found it to be one of the funniest moments in the entire comic, it really only made me dislike Mender more.

he's delightfully despicable isn't he. And yeah, it was pretty funny, but dayum!

The new cub was great. I'm still trying to digest the rest.

Am I the only one thinking this might be a case of forced recognition? Cutter asks, if she really wants this, as if Leetah had a choice. Yes, we have the supress button added and yes, maybe, Cutter -being the new age-dick, that he became, might have meant her staying on the planet; but I thought this might be a "one time only" or "Ember only" thing. Will say, elves don't have a choice. There is no use in asking  her, if she wants this, she has to comply. Also, the usual suspects are missing (sparkles, gasps, big surprised eyes, the heavy focus on Cutter and Leetah*)

edit: maybe the "knowing everything about the significant other, feeling this person's soul and presence and all" effects of recognition wear off over time; this certainly happened to Dewshine and Tyldak and this might have happened to Strongbow and Moonshade; but shouldn't Leetah know, that Cutter is a splinter of Timmain's soul? Especially if she just freshly recognised him?



*when did that ever happen?

It was certainly the lowest key recognition ever shown. I didn't even realise that's what was happening until it was explicitly stated on the next page.

Well, Rainsong's and Woodlock's last recognition wasn't actually Earth shattering. I believe Cutter asked her if she really wanted this, was due to what was discovered of his Cutter-Tam-Timmain crap that got literally dumped in their laps. She sure seemed to enjoy herself too.

I was just thinking about this tonight and was reminded of the movie "Rosenkrantz and Guilenstern are Dead" where it follows those two minor characters as they go on and off stage through scenes of Hamlet. That's kind of still how I feel, that there is more interesting things happening somewhere off-screen, but we keep getting pulled away for these minor storylines that don't make much sense because we don't have the whole picture.

That being said, I find that my overall reaction to this issue is not entirely negative, although I can't think of a moment that I really liked. I did think that the drawing of Leetah sprawled out over Cutter was really well done, both the line work and the shading. I think that conveying weight and dimensions is something Wendy does really well, and it's great to see here. Unfortunately, that scene is one of two moments that kind of threw me out of the story and left a bad taste.

I know there are a lot of people that are really into more babies and recognitions, but to me, the whole interaction between Leetah and Cutter seems off. It's like Leetah doesn't know what's going on with Cutter and feels him pulling away and is like "I'm losing him, what can I do. I know, we'll have a baby! That will make it all better!" Feels very modern and as stupid and manipulative as it is in real life.

I also agree with what's been posted here about the whole Mender/Trinket interaction. That made me stop and go "WTF?" "Well, Trinket, you can't have me, but I will shape this poor, mentally distressed troll that I'm supposed to be helping to vaguely look like me so he can be your plaything!" I think it said something about the troll wanting to be with Trinket, but it still a little creepy. It also makes me wonder about Mender's self-image. Does he think the only thing he has to offer is his rockin' 80's hairstyle? There couldn't be anything, you know, less superficial about Mender that might appeal to Trinket?

If it helps, Leetah has been wanting another Recognition since the Shards War, Outlier. She said to herself "And who knows what may happen when eyes meet eyes again?" (Or something like that - "when eyes meet eyes again" was definitely in there.)

Outlier the recognition felt off for me, too. It felt like a desperate thing, both for Leetah and Cutter and storywise.

I don't know Mender that well, because I have not spent much time on Shards and Hidden Years, but he always struck me as being superficial.

I don't like the timing of this Recognition. It just sets up a pregnant Leetah or a small child as easy target for violence.

Btw, are those two elves still wrapped up? Those who were deeply wounded/exhausted?